Taking cube root and log transformation in R

Question

I have a table with row names corresponding to a set of people and their corresponding body mass estimates. For instance, say a matrix "mass estimate" with these values:

   Name      Mass
1 person_a   234
2 person_b   190
3 person_c   203
4 person_d   176

How will I, in a single line of R code, take the cube roots of the masses and then have them log transformed?

I am not sure how to ask the data above in a table format, since the final question shows it on a single line. The first column reads "Name" and the second column reads "Mass". Each row has a name (person_a) and the mass (234).

Thanks!

Answer 1

# Sample matrix
mat <- matrix(runif(20), ncol = 5);

# log10-transform the cube root of all entries
mat.trans <- log10(mat^(1/3))

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Or with your dataframe example (which is not the same as a matrix):

df <- read.table(text = 
    "Name      Mass
    1 person_a   234
    2 person_b   190
    3 person_c   203
    4 person_d   176", sep = "");

# log10-transform the cube root
df$transMass <- log10(df$Mass^(1/3));
#      Name Mass transMass
#1 person_a  234 0.7897386
#2 person_b  190 0.7595845
#3 person_c  203 0.7691653
#4 person_d  176 0.7485042